The grinding thing isn’t original – I had my beady eye on Smashbox’s Halo Hydrating Powder for a long time but at £41.50 (including a brush) it was too pricey for my liking PLUS there was only Light, Medium and Dark and I heard that the light was actually more of a medium and medium for of a dark….too much complexity for an online purchase.

There is also the Elizabeth Arden version, but overall I decided to go for Clinique:

I got shade 04 – there’s an excellent range of colours:

Why do I find Clinique packaging so comforting? I think its because it reminds me of childhood, ogling at the new shiny make up as my mum bought their products.

Ready to see the grinder after the jump?!

Portability

Its portable but it is chunky. Let’s get real though, with the mechanism inside that shaves the powder off, its will have to be a substantial size:

Its actually a very good idea (not just a gimmick) to be able to shave powder off to get a loose powder product. I am far too absent minded to carry loose powder with me but I prefer the natural effect you get with it. With this product = no spillage.

You also get an antibaterial brush inside which I think works better than getting a silly sponge – however, the ideal would be a kabuki brush as the brush you get is still a little smaller than I’d like.

Mechanics

So you take off the plastic cover, and you just turn the wheel to shave some product off. You need VERY little – just a 15 minute (quarter turn) for enough product for the whole face:

I am guessing that something in the bottom of the compact pushes the powder up as you go along. I have no idea how long this will last as I have only been using it for a few weeks.

I have combination skin – or should I say extreme combination skin. Very oily and very dry. I utterly hate cakey powder which is why I am not the biggest fan of mineral make up (so far). I also hate my skin feeling dry – I’d rather look like an oil slick than have dry flaky skin. Someone oily might have been working up a sweat having fun, right? Someone really flaky probably has swine flu.*

This is a great powder foundation methinks it works for me as I didn’t detect any cakeyness – it feels like quite a hydrating powder (do excuse the oxymoron) so sat well on my skin.

People seem to be mixed about how much coverage this foundation has. Personally, I have never found mineral make up to be amazing at covering giant blemishes unless you cake it on. With this product, I found the coverage to be medium – just right.

Some people have found it quite sheer, some quite heavy. I think if you are used to light tinted moisturizer or have amazing skin you might find it a tad heavy – so use less. If you think it is sheer you can layer it – I personally found it just right – covered my redness and patchy skin. Any major blemishes would require concealer too.

I kept the plastic bit they give you to keep any loose bits from falling on my mirror – good idea, better than a stupid sticker than you can’t keep for too long.

I used this on top of some tinted moisturizer and it made everything last perfectly for 6 hours. I didn’t experience any allergies or redness either.

Coverage, one layer:

Verdict

I liked this a lot – more than any other loose form mineral foundation or powder foundation I have used before (apart from Albion’s Powder Foundation which I adore for its creaminess).

Very much recommended for those who want a no fuss, mineral foundation/powder – you can buy it here for £27.

Check out the ingredients below – this does contain bismuth oxychloride which makes some women itch, so be aware of that if you have an allergy.

WOW! I cannot even believe that Clinique tacked the “mineral makeup” name on this. It is just another regular pressed powder filled with talc and binders. I was really intrigued by this product since I couldn’t figure out how they managed to make a true mineral makeup pressed enough to need a grinder. now I see. The Mineral makeup name is an attempt to jump on the mineral bandwagon without making any actual R&D efforts to truly make a mineral makeup. So disappointed 🙁

Thank you for this, I’ve been trying to find the ingredients everywhere! I agree with Mandy, it’s not exactly a mineral makeup! I will not be buying it as Talc makes me break out, and I don’t like the shine given by bismuth oxychloride; in the bare minerals I feel it looks quite false when applied anywhere near thick enough to give slight coverage (my skin is not bad either!). I plan to stick with Smashbox Halo, which has NO talc or bismuth, and yet is still pressed in exactly the same packaging. It may cost more, but I’d prefer to pay for quality ingredients to put on my dace than ‘fillers’ like talc! And Halo comes with the best brush I have ever used (smashbox 19).

I purchased the Clinique product in London one year ago and LOVED it. I too would like to know when it will be released in Australia. I have been searching the internet to see if I can have it sent from UK or USA…..no luck

To previous posts mentioning that this is not a mineral foundation; no, it’s not purely a mineral foundation BUT it actually doesn’t say on the packaging that it is one, it says that it is mineral ENRICHED, which it also is.